


i want him to believe

by blessings



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Pre-Canon, Pre-Slash, humor centered on early 2000s internet aesthetics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-12-01 01:18:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11475576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blessings/pseuds/blessings
Summary: On Oikawa’s 10th birthday, Hajime swears he’ll get him the best birthday present ever - proof that aliens exist.Even if he has to make the proof himself.





	i want him to believe

**Author's Note:**

> minor warning for bullying (oikawa gets made fun of for believing in aliens in one short scene)

The fifth grade seems a little early to be choosing a career, but that didn’t stop Hajime’s teacher from making each student in the class pick a job they were interested in and give a presentation on it. The goal was to prepare the students for their futures. Hajime thought that learning about what to expect in middle school would be more helpful, but maybe being an adult required a couple years of advance warning. 

Oikawa was the last to present, of course, because he wanted the day to end on a high note - at least, that was what he told the class in his introduction. 

Hajime had been doodling small Godzillas rampaging through his math notes during his classmates’ presentations, but he sat up and paid attention when Oikawa started. He told himself it was because he knew Oikawa would have a ten question quiz for him afterwards, but he also felt unsettled at the thought of missing anything. He didn’t focus too hard on it. 

Oikawa walked the class through his plan to win gold at the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Olympics before retiring as a professional volleyball player and pursuing a career as an astronaut. According to his 48” x 36” poster board, he’ll be the first human to shake hands with an alien by 2035 - assuming aliens have hands. He’s willing to settle for any appendage, of course.

Their teacher seemed a little confused about where in her instructions she mentioned presenting on two jobs, but Hajime was disappointed that she was still surprised by Oikawa this late into the year.

He struggled to maintain his focus as Oikawa transitioned into the latter half of his life, moving to another section of his poster board. In the nine years Oikawa has been able to form coherent sentences, Hajime had heard plenty about his plan to bring about peace between the aliens and humanity when war inevitably breaks out. 

For his presentation, Hajime couldn’t think of anything more specific than “I want to help people,” ending up with a list that included everything from doctor to journalist, so he has to admire Oikawa for his foresight and attention to detail at the very least.

Oikawa concluded with a bow, just in case anyone was doubting that the presentation wasn't 100% Oikawa Tooru. Hajime applauded loudly and frowned at a group of their classmates until they started clapping to his standards. 

“Good job,” he whispered to Oikawa as he skipped down the row of desks and plopped in his seat next to Hajime.

Oikawa flipped his hair in a manner that he had recently learned was cool and that Hajime was learning to be annoyed by. “It’s a presentation all about me. Of course it was good.”

“I meant good job making yourself look normal. Must have been hard. How late did you stay up working on it?”

Their teacher cleared her throat, glaring at the pair of them. Oikawa bowed his head contritely, but Hajime could see him beaming. 

After congratulating them on a job well done, she allowed the class to break early for lunch. Hajime stretched and stood up from his desk. He placed his hand on Oikawa’s head as he tried to do the same, keeping him in his seat.

“I’ll get our lunchboxes,” he promised. “Try not to get any weirder while I’m gone.”

“Iwa-chan loves doing nice things for me,” Oikawa sang, his chin in his hands.

Hajime blushed. “It’s just easier this way! And I get time away from you.”

He stomped his way out of the classroom to where his backpack hung alongside Oikawa’s, a shrill cackle following him. He yanked his Godzilla lunchbox out of his bag before grabbing Oikawa’s alien lunchbox. Still grumbling, Hajime reentered the class before coming to an abrupt stop in the doorway.

“You’re the only one who’s still enough of a _baby_ to believe in aliens.” Matsuno, the class bully, was leaning over Oikawa’s desk. “Everybody knows they’re not real.”

“There’s plenty of evidence that shows they could exist. If you were able to read, you would know,” Oikawa said, his tone almost bored. His fingers were tapping a frantic beat on his desk, so Hajime knew he wasn’t as calm as he appeared. He crept closer, glaring at Matsuno as if he could will him to stop.

Matsuno’s face turned red. “Oh yeah? Where is it? Wait, I know - maybe you’re so sure because _you’re_ an alien.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense,” Oikawa scoffed. “If I was an alien, why would I be telling people about my existence? Although, I guess it would prevent suspicion...hmm, that’s not a bad idea-”

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” Matsuno’s scowl deepened - he wasn’t getting the reactions he wanted. “You’re not smart enough to be the person who discovers aliens.”

Oikawa flinched. 

Hajime nearly crushed his lunch in his grip. “Enough” was Oikawa’s least favorite word.

Oikawa’s bottom lip started trembling in that way that means he’s holding back tears, which was a sure sign that he’s genuinely upset. He has no problem crying over things that don’t matter to him, but Hajime knows that when he really cares, he hides it.

His head tilted down, almost imperceptibly, so that Oikawa was looking away from how Matsuno was leering at him. His eyes were glistening.

That was the moment Hajime decided he was gonna do something really stupid.

He slammed his lunchbox down on his desk, loudly enough that Matsuno jumped a little, and turned to face them without sitting down.

“So, where did you hear about how aliens aren’t real?” Hajime asked Matsuno, ignoring the way Oikawa stared up at him with wide eyes. Some of their other classmates might be paying attention to the growing conflict, but he figured they should hear what he has to say as well.

Matsuno leaned away slightly. “What do you-”

“You have proof, right? That there are no aliens out there? If you do, it’s a little unfair to ask Oikawa to prove something you know isn’t true.”

His eyes darted to the side. “I don’t-”

“You don’t have any proof. No one does. Aliens might be real, or they might not be. Either way, you should stop wasting your time arguing about something you don’t know anything about.” _At least Oikawa actually studies this stuff,_ Hajime thought, but didn’t say out loud. 

He held Matsuno’s glare, Oikawa’s head twisting back and forth to watch them both, until he abruptly turned around and went back to his desk, muttering about “the weird alien duo.”

“Ignore him,” Hajime said. “He’s just trying to start a fight.”

“Of course, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa replied, carefully avoiding his gaze. “I’m not going to listen to the words of a non-believer!”

Hajime knew a lie from Oikawa when he saw one. 

\---

Oikawa was still acting weird after school ended. Weirder than usual, that is.

He kept his focus directed at the sidewalk on the walk home, ignoring the way Hajime stared at him until he got close enough that his nose was nearly pressed against Oikawa’s ear.

“Iwa-chan, stop sniffing me,” Oikawa said, waving his hands around his head as if to swat Hajime away.

“I’m not _sniffing_ \- no, nope, we’re not doing this. Don’t distract me,” Hajime grumbled. “Are you upset about what Matsuno said?”

Oikawa nearly tripped over his velcro shoes. “What- no, of course not, who cares what he thinks-”

“He’s wrong,” Hajime interrupted. “You could be the person who discovers aliens if you wanted.”

He knew Oikawa had heard before that he needed to be more realistic with his goals. _It’s an admirable dream, but remember that the national team is small, Oikawa. JAXA has limited positions, so make sure you have a backup plan._

Oikawa always had multiple plans, but they all ended the same - with him reaching the goal he had set.

He usually went to Hajime to talk about these things. But he wasn’t responding now. 

They walked in silence until their houses came into view, Hajime waiting patiently for Oikawa to say what was on his mind.

“I would have to be the best,” he said suddenly. “I would have to be a genius.”

“Yeah,” Hajime said. “So just do that, then.”

Oikawa fell silent again.

They paused outside of Oikawa’s house. He didn’t look ready to go in, but he wasn’t saying anything either.

“So. Big day tomorrow,” Hajime tried. “You finally hit double digits.”

“Iwa-chan is an old man already,” Oikawa said, but his teasing tone didn’t reach his eyes.

Hajime sighed in disappointment. “Oikawa, just talk-”

“I’m fine, Iwa-chan,” he snapped.

“Okay. If you say so.” Hajime knew he wasn’t, but he could also tell when continuing to ask was the wrong move. He turned towards his house. “See you tomorrow night. We’ll watch whatever you want, okay?”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow,” Oikawa said distractedly, his gaze focused on the clouds extending past the horizon in shades of silver and grey. His mouth set in a hardened line as he looked down at his feet abruptly, stomping his way into his house and slamming the door behind him.

And that was the moment Hajime decided he was gonna do something really, _really_ stupid.

\---

Early the next morning, Hajime got ready for his annual birthday sleepover with Oikawa by booting up his mom’s computer. He’s sacrificing precious internet time for him, and he planned on putting the exact amount of computer usage Oikawa will owe him in his card.

After a few quick Google searches, he opened up a new document and started typing. An hour later, he looked over his work with a thoughtful expression on his face. It needed one last touch. Hajime clicked around on the computer for a bit before settling on a font. 

Comic Sans. Perfect.

Next, he needed a few supplies.

Paint, in shades of neon green and red. A black permanent marker, a flashlight, a horn, a plate. And a kite.

By the time he needed to start walking over to Oikawa’s (two minutes before the sleepover was scheduled to start, because Oikawa was next door), Hajime had everything he needed for the best birthday present ever tucked safely into his overnight bag.

He said goodbye to his mom for the night in front of their door, watching her in a standing mirror in the hallway as she fussed over his pajamas.

“Are you ready for Tooru’s sleepover?” she asked, running a hand through his hair.

Hajime grinned sharply at her reflection and tightened his grip on his bag. “Absolutely.”

\---

Oikawa wrenched the door open before Hajime could finish knocking. 

“Mom! Iwa-chan is here!” he yelled as he tugged Hajime inside.

“Happy birthday,” Hajime said, his eyes roving over Oikawa’s face as he smiled gratefully. The weighed-down expression from yesterday had faded, thankfully, but he couldn’t be sure that Oikawa wasn’t still thinking about what Matsuno said.

Hajime gently placed his bag down near the door - too gently, because Oikawa was giving him a weird look when he stood up again. Luckily, Oikawa’s family was excited to see Hajime, even though he had been over two days ago, and made enough noise that Oikawa shoved him up to his room to get away from them all.

Hajime thought he was in the clear until Oikawa shut the door and turned to appraise him, one eyebrow raised and a calculating expression on his face. “So. What’s in the bag, Iwa-chan?”

“What bag?” he asked. His eyes darted around the walls of Oikawa’s room, drawn to the Buzz Lightyear poster that was Hajime’s present for him last year.

Oikawa stared at him. “The bag that you’re holding.”

“I’m not holding a bag,” Hajime said, adjusting his grip on his bag.

He barely had time to dodge as Oikawa dived for him. They wrestled for a while, Hajime giggling the whole time, before Oikawa licked his hand and he- he didn’t _scream,_ he was just surprised so he might’ve shouted, but it definitely wasn’t a scream. 

Oikawa cackled triumphantly, prying the overnight bag from Hajime’s clutches and lifting it over his head. 

“Okay! I’ll show you!” Hajime panicked, reaching desperately for the bag.

Oikawa plopped down in front of him, an excited smile on his face as he squirmed closer to Hajime. “Is it my birthday present? Is it a new volleyball? Is it- is it a Lando Calrissian action figure? Is it-”

Hajime hesitated as Oikawa continued to rattle off ideas. He couldn’t show him all of it yet - some of the present required him to be outside. 

“It’s part of it,” he answered carefully, unzipping a corner of the overnight bag. He pulled out a folded piece of paper that Oikawa grabbed immediately. He unfolded it curiously, his eyes flickering over it. Hajime watched his expression with bated breath.

“‘Scientists say alien contact is imminent,’’ he read aloud.

“Yup. I, uh, saw it online and thought of you?” Hajime cringed. He really needed to work on his lying.

“It says they could be on their way to our planet right now,” Oikawa said, his eyes glowing with excitement, a small smile on his face. Hajime internally pumped his fist in the air. “And the font’s really cool, too.”

“Yeah, the website was really. Science-y?” Hajime said. “It’s all true. One hundred percent real.”

“Of course, silly. It’s signed by a real journalist. They wouldn’t write it if it wasn’t true.” Oikawa glanced away from the paper to roll his eyes at Hajime before refocusing. “So they could show up soon. This year, maybe.”

Hajime nodded, smiling faintly as Oikawa reread the article he had written. His plan was off to a good start.

After Oikawa carefully folded the paper again and tucked it into a drawer in his desk, Hajime spent an hour alternating between watching Oikawa play Pokémon on his Game Boy and taking a turn for himself. He kept an eye on the sun setting outside his bedroom window, standing and stretching once it was dark enough to put the rest of his plan into action.

“Hey, I’m going to use the bathroom real quick,” he said.

“Okay,” Oikawa said. “When you get back we can choose a movie.”

“Sure.” Hajime snatched up his bag from the floor, ignoring Oikawa’s questioning glance as he pretended to head to the bathroom at the end of the hall.

He waited for a moment at the top of the stairs, listening to Oikawa’s family moving around in the kitchen, before tiptoeing to the first level and slowly opening the front door. With one last glance over his shoulder to make sure Oikawa wasn’t following him, he ran as fast as he could through the front yard. There was a tree that they had climbed often when they were younger, and he smiled fondly at the memories. Tonight, however, the tree was important because of its proximity to Oikawa’s bedroom window.

Hajime scaled it carefully - he was older and heavier than he had been when he first climbed it. He pulled the tools required for Stage Two of his plan out of his bag.

He had spent part of his day duct taping together a shiny tin foil platter, the horn from his bike, and a flashlight. The plate was turned upside-down and the flashlight and horn sat on top. From a distance and in the dark, it would look like a UFO. He hoped. 

Hajime leaned against the trunk of the tree and attached a string to his fake UFO, looping one end over a branch so that it would dangle over Oikawa’s window. He taped the buttons for the flashlight and horn down, took a deep breath, and released the UFO.

He shrunk back into the cover of the leaves as the flashlight passed over Oikawa’s window once, twice, the horn blaring. Oikawa yanked his curtains back, his eyes widening in surprise at what he saw. He frantically swung his window open and nearly fell in his excitement.

“Holy crap!” he yelled. Hajime’s jaw dropped at his language and he clapped a hand over his mouth to muffle a laugh.

It was time for Stage 3.

He pulled the final part of Oikawa’s present out of his backpack. The other half of his day had been dedicated to painting a kite to resemble an alien. It was a hideous fluorescent green, with red eyes and a snarl drawn with permanent marker. Hajime had realized partway through painting it that at a certain angle, the alien’s wobbly grimace resembled Oikawa’s mouth when he was upset, and had knocked over the red paint in his laughter, staining his carpet.

“Iwa-chan!”

Hajime froze.

“Iwa-chan, come look at this! Where is he?” Oikawa turned away from the window to yell for Hajime. Hajime shook his head with another quiet laugh and slung the string of the kite over the branch, tugging the UFO towards him quickly. He aimed carefully and threw the kite.

Oikawa’s screech when he turned around and saw an alien hovering outside his window was the loudest Hajime had ever heard him. 

“Iwa-chan! Iwa-chan, come here! There’s an alien!” Oikawa was screaming now. Hajime smiled at the open happiness on his face as he prepared to descend the tree.

“I have to get a picture for him!”

Looking back, Oikawa would say Hajime was blinded by love. Hajime knows it was Oikawa’s typical overzealous use of flash photography. Either way, the moment he heard the click of the camera, Hajime lost the ability to see the branch in front of him. Nor could he see the moment he reached for the branch and missed. 

He could, however, see the ground rushing up to meet him as he fell from the tree. Or he thinks he was able to see - it looked like a solid wall of darkness rushing towards him, but so did everything else at the time.

Hajime could also hear, which was unfortunate in that situation because Oikawa let out the most ear-piercing shriek of the night as he watched him tumble to the ground. His voice was so shrill that Hajime couldn’t tell if he was disoriented from the fall or the assault on his eardrums.

“Hajime!” Oikawa sobbed, before disappearing from the window. He could hear him calling for his parents. Hajime rested his head on a root with a groan.

The front door slammed open and Oikawa’s tearful face was suddenly hovering over Hajime. 

“Iwa-chan is _dead!_ ” he sobbed, shaking Hajime so his head bumped against the tree.

“I’m not dead, Oikawa! Stop shaking me!”

With a gasp, Oikawa slung his arms around Hajime’s shoulders, which was a bad idea because Hajime was pretty sure his arm was broken.

“Don’t _do_ that to me, I thought you _died,_ we were supposed to watch a movie and go to high school and the Olympics together, never climb anything again-”

“What hurts, Hajime?” Oikawa’s mom bent over him.

“Um. My arm,” Hajime said. “Stop crying, Oikawa, you're fine!”

“Everything okay over there?” Hajime’s mom was peering over the fence dividing their two houses. Oikawa burst into another round of tears and Hajime sighed in resignation as he pat his back with his good arm. 

And that was how Oikawa Tooru ended up spending his 10th birthday in a hospital. 

\---

Hajime sipped on his juice box as he waited for the doctor to tell him he could go home. His mom and Oikawa’s mom were talking to her outside his door now, and he was getting pretty antsy waiting alone. This wasn’t how he expected the night to go at all.

The door slammed open and Oikawa burst in as if he had read his thoughts. Hajime shielded his juice box behind his cast. 

Oikawa threw himself onto Hajime’s bed and squished his cheeks. “What were you _thinking_?”

“That I just gave you the best birthday present ever,” Hajime said.

“No, when you climbed the tree with that fake UFO and alien! I saw them on the ground. It was just a plate! And a kite! I thought I was going to be in the history books!”

“I wasn’t trying to trick you.” Hajime struggled to sit up. “I wanted you to believe you could be the one to discover aliens.”

Oikawa was silent, studying him in a way that made Hajime want to shrink into his pillow. He resisted the urge to hide and held Oikawa’s gaze while he gathered his thoughts.

“I didn’t-” Oikawa frowned, breaking eye contact and glaring at their clasped hands, why are they holding hands, when did that happen- “Why would you do that?”

“Because you weren’t listening to me,” Hajime said, then paused. “No, wait. I also didn’t explain myself well.”

Oikawa only looked more confused, so Hajime took a deep breath and made sure he was listening.

“Yeah, you need to be amazing to discover aliens or play pro volleyball or to do whatever you want to do, because you always want to be the best. And I’m saying that if anyone could do all of those things, you could.” As an afterthought, he added, “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll help you with whatever. So just talk to me. And stuff.”

He trailed off because Oikawa was looking like he was going to cry again. His bottom lip was doing the trembly thing.

“You’re the best at being a friend, Hajime,” Oikawa said, and then he was crying, loud enough that the doctors and their moms came into the room to see Hajime patting Oikawa on the head with his cast, sipping on his juice box with the other hand.

(According to Oikawa, Hajime has never given him a better present than bringing space down to earth, but Hajime will never stop trying. He'll probably have to propose or something.)

**Author's Note:**

> loosely based on that genuinely hilarious [episode of arthur](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3-nIDNz0kc%20) where the gang scares d.w. with a fake alien. a truly iconic show 
> 
> thanks for reading! [kyouken.carrd.co](http://kyouken.carrd.co)


End file.
